Dilip Cherian Blog

Cherian's Choice

After criticism from the Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant over the slow progress on overhauling of railway stations, a stung Railway Ministry has swung into action, which is probably what the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) wants anyway.
In a letter to Railway Board chairman V.K. Yadav, Mr Kant panned the prolonged delay in a station redevelopment project that has lingered “for several years”. He suggested that an empowered group of secretaries and railway officials be created to help execute the project in “a time-bound manner”. The station project entails leasing out railway properties.
According to sources, Mr Yadav has ordered formation of the committee that includes, besides Kant and Yadav, secretaries of the departments of Economic Affairs, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Railway Board Financial Commissioner. The censure has finally made the lumbering Railway bureaucracy rather anxious since the Niti Aayog’s red flag is pretty much a stand-in for a message from the PMO that the Rail babus need to get their collective act together, as they are being closely watched.